This invention relates to the field of telephone equipment installation tools. More particularly, this invention relates to a new and improved telephone equipment installation tool having an assortment of terminal equipment installation devices finding wide applicability in telephone communication systems such as that found in Great Britain.
Multi-purpose tools for installing telephone terminal equipment are well known to those skilled in the art. These tools provide the telephone installer with a variety of devices which accomplish many different and necessary installation functions. These tools have an added advantage in that the assortment of labor saving devices are all conveniently located on the same lightweight tool.
Tools of the above-discussed type used in conjunction with standard telephone equipment found in the United States are known in the prior art (No. 953A & AS Tools by Western Electric Co., Inc.), and an improved version of such tool is disclosed in copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 510,324, now abandoned, filed contemporaneously with the present invention and assigned to the assignee hereof.
That particular improved telephone installation tool includes means for stripping the insulation from small gauge cable wires in addition to standard apparatus to effect cable jacket stripping, a staple holder and positioner which provides accurate placement of wire staples, a tab remover slot for bending off breakout tabs on modular jack connecting blocks and a ruler for measuring wire strip lengths.
While multi-purpose tools of the above described type have found wide acceptance in the United States telephone industry, this has not been the case in other countries, such as Great Britain, where different types of telephone equipment are utilized. This is because many of the particular devices or functions of the U.S. type tools cannot be used within, for example, the British telephone system. This non-interchangeability is caused, in part, by differences in the dimensional standards and physical configurations of terminal equipment in other systems relative to U.S. equipment. It is highly desireable to have a telephone equipment installation tool to fit the special needs and requirements of equipment used in Great Britain.